Syrian Democratic Council Delegation to Visit Washington Soon

A convoy of US armored vehicles in northeastern Syria. (Getty Images)

A delegation from the Autonomous Administration and the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) is expected to visit Washington in mid-September for political talks with American officials, Syrian opposition sources said on Friday.

They said the meetings aim to follow-up on the recent visits by Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of the US Central Command, and Joey Hood, the State Department's acting assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs, to the region where they held talks with local officials about the situation there, in addition to the future of relations with Washington.

“The Turkish role will top the agenda, amid fears that Washington failed to take serious punitive measures against Ankara, at least concerning the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), although Turkey announced a new deal to purchase Russian S-400 missile-defense system,” the sources said.

This week, Gen. Mazloum Kobane Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces and Washington’s strongest ally in Syria, struck a cautious but optimistic tone about the future of the US presence in Syria’s northeast region.

Describing an improved relationship with Washington in the seven months since President Joe Biden took office, Abdi said he expected relative stability to prevail in northeastern Syria if America keeps its promises, The Washington Post wrote.

“We feel now that we have stronger political and military support, more than we had from the previous administration,” he stated. “After these pullouts, there were US officials who came to tell us that there will be no changes in Syria.”

US officials see that the balance of power in Syria is multisided and it depends on the American presence.

They said when the US troops retreat, American officials see an opening for the Syrian military or forces from Russia or Turkey to advance. Some US officials have stressed that the American deployment prevents Iranian forces from establishing a “land bridge” that would allow them to more easily supply weapons to their Hezbollah ally in Lebanon.